Genetic counseling of adults with Williams syndrome: a first study.

We report on a study of genetic counseling to 43 adults with Williams syndrome (WS). Participants were initially asked what they knew about how WS occurs. Genetic counseling was provided with a focus on the basic genetics of WS, recurrence risk, and on participants' attitudes toward socio-cultural topics.

Differences in saliva collection location and disparities in baseline and diurnal rhythms of alpha-amylase: a preliminary note of caution.

Identified in the early 1980s as a surrogate marker of the sympathetic nervous system component of the stress response, there has been renewed interest in measuring salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) to test biosocial models of stress vulnerability. This brief report presents studies that document that oral fluids from the parotid and submandibular gland areas had higher sAA values than did whole saliva specimens, and sAA values in whole saliva were higher than levels measured in oral fluids from the sublingual gland area. sAA in oral fluids from the parotid and submandibular gland areas showed the highest and more pronounced diurnal variation than levels in whole saliva, and sAA in sublingual saliva showed the lowest and shallowest diurnal variation.

Measuring salivary cortisol in studies of child development: watch out--what goes in may not come out of saliva collection devices.

Technical advances that enable the noninvasive measurement of biomarkers in saliva have spawned a generation of investigations that integrate biological variables into behavioral and developmental research. This study examines whether the collection of saliva, using common absorbent devices compromises the measurement of cortisol when saliva specimens have low sample volume. Within subjects (n = 20), saliva samples were prepared to experimentally represent a gradient of lower to higher sample volumes.

Integration of salivary biomarkers into developmental and behaviorally-oriented research: problems and solutions for collecting specimens.

Saliva has been championed as a diagnostic fluid of the future. Much of the attention that saliva receives as a biological specimen is due to the perception that the nature of sample collection is quick, uncomplicated, and non-invasive. In most cases, this perception matches reality; however, in some special circumstances and populations collecting saliva can be unexpectedly difficult, time consuming, and may not yield sufficient sample volume for assay.